Mckay CH5 TEACHING METHODS AND ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

Mckay CH5 TEACHING METHODS AND ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE
After reading this chapter, I believe that methods applied in EFL and ESL setting will have entirely different influence upon the learners. The writer, Mckay, started out with the introduction of a culture of learning, explaining the role of teachers in Confucian and Western academic lecture. In western countries, teachers are referred as guide/facilitators, whereas in oriental countries, teachers are the authority of the lecture and should not be challenged. According the 2nd table, it describes the communication style of Japanese and Americans, low self-disclosure versus high self-disclosure; group consciousness versus individualism. Due to the variances of cultures between eastern countries and western countries, the problems raises.

The communicative language teaching method has won huge success in many areas and lost it popularity over the time in some countries. It is not hard for me to understand the challenges of CLT has met in China. The biggest motivation for most Chineses students to learn English is to succeed in the National University Entrance Examination. The problems is, however, that NUEE does not spare any sections to test students’ communicative competence. Most part focuses on grammar, translation, listenning comprehension, and writing. As Burnaby and Sun pointed out, CLT would be appropriate for Chinese students who intended to go to English speaking countries. Further, teachers are expected to play the leading role in the classroom while CLT, guiding students to absorb the knowledge. Fun games, group discussion, and puzzles don’t seem to fit in in such culture environment.

I have never taught in public middle school. However, based on my personal experience in the language school, CLT was quite popular, because a large number of students are high school students in my area. They feel tired after a long day/week’s study in their school. They’ve already had enough rote learning and grammar translation exercises in their school. Also, most of them want to study abroad after finishing their high school education. Therefore, CLT is exactly the method that meets their requirements and expectations.

My concern is how about the students who do not intend to study abroad and desire to improve their communicative competence. The traditonal methodology can not satisfy their requirements and some feel very frustrated about how to improve their spoken English. It seems that students do not benefit from the innovative methodology as they are all about to take the UNEE in the coming future. The writer was proposing an appropriate methodology for the students in a variety of local contexts, but that requires teacher’s sense of plausibility. In China’s case, I believe the education bureaucracy’s willingness to improve the English curriculum and UNEE is part of the solution.